Boy accused of detaining husband at knifepoint liable for rape, court told

A boy who has pleaded not guilty to five charges of raping a woman in her Queensland home allegedly "aided and enabled" the assault by detaining the victim's partner, a court has heard.

Police allege three boys broke into Cairns property at about 3am on February 21, 2025, and that the woman was raped multiple times by two boys while her husband was detained in another room by the defendant.

The defendants and alleged victims cannot be identified for legal reasons.

Crown prosecutor Nicole Friedewald told Queensland Children's Court in Cairns that the boy standing trial this week did not physically rape the woman, but held the woman's partner at knifepoint while his co-offenders raped her in her home in the suburb of Manunda.

"The Crown … is alleging that this defendant aided or enabled these co-offenders to commit various rape offences on [the victim]," Ms Friedewald told the court.

"He's arming himself with a knife before the female complainant was removed from the main bedroom by his two co-offenders."

Ms Friedewald told judge-only trial that the defendant was present in the room while one of the alleged co-offenders said he intended to rape the woman.

"Liability is alleged in relation to each of the five rape counts," Ms Friedewald told the court.

"This defendant initially responded, 'Nah, nah', before his two co-offenders removed [the victim] from the bedroom. His conduct prevented the male complainant from intervening."

Ms Friedewald said the woman had been woken earlier that night by noises in the house and a light approaching the couple's bedroom.

"The man woke to his partner grabbing his arm repeatedly and squeezing it," Ms Friedewald told the court.

She said the woman volunteered to leave the bedroom to get her wallet after the boys allegedly threatened the couple with a tomahawk, a knife, and an axe while they were in bed.

"[The victim's partner] would describe feeling that if he made one wrong move, he and his partner could have been seriously injured or worse, and that he felt like he could not leave that bedroom that he was being detained in," Ms Friedewald said.

The court heard the woman was raped on the patio and in a spare bedroom while the man remained in the master bedroom.

The court heard the couple had to wake their neighbours to alert police.

The 17-year-old defendant, wearing a blue shirt, black pants and black runners, and playing with a soft fidget toy, was in the courtroom today with an interpreter.

The boy pleaded guilty to six charges, including stealing, going armed in company, and of detaining the couple at their home.

Defence barrister Timothy Grau told the court he would argue his client failed to hear the alleged comments that a co-accused was planning to rape the victim.

"The issue will arise … whether the defendant heard and understood those words and if there's any evidence in relation to that," Mr Grau told the court.

He said the boy was 16 at the time of his police interview and that English was not his first language.

"Your honour would be conscious of distinguishing the answers he gives in that interview about the time when he knew those things and what he learned afterwards," Mr Grau said.

Ms Friedewald also told Judge Joshua Treviño KC that if he was not satisfied with her case, her "fallback position'" would be that the boys all formed the intention to rape the victim once they found her semi-naked in bed.

"The trio formed a common expanded intention to commit sexual violence upon the woman," she said.

The court heard the boys had broken into the same home hours earlier and stolen several items before returning after carrying out a local crime spree.

The couple had returned home from volunteer work when they noticed the back door was open and that items had been moved or were missing. They tidied up and locked the house "tight".

The cases of the two co-accused are still before the courts.

While some of the offences are covered by the Crisafulli government's "adult crime, adult time" laws, which came into effect under the Making Queensland Safer Bill in December 2024, rape was added as an amendment in May 2025, three months after the assault.